The wife finally decided to come along with me yesterday to the range! A very pleasant surprise for me and us. We got a babysitter (rare occurrence as we have no family here) and took the nice 30+ mi trek on the dusty dirt road out of town and to the shooting club where friendly and familiar faces awaited. (I told them she was coming )

I brought a single-six, SP101, XD40, Para Ordinance 1911 PDA and a Model 60 Airweight. Both the SP101 and Model 60 were fitted with Houges, loaded down with .38s and The XD was loaded with 135 grain Federal "Low Recoil" cartridges. The 1911 carried standard 230 grain Remington UMC.

After the standard safety lessons. I gave her a crash course in stance, grip, trigger press, sight alignment, etc. We were the only ones in the berm, (gotta love it ) but I explained some common etiquette in case there were others. (what I remembered anyways, been a while since I've shot around people)

She started with the single-six, first shot . . . bulls-eye!!! She shot about 4 more cylinders. Practiced ejection/reload and wanted to move on. She picked up the SP101 and 2 full speed-loaders and went to the 10 yd line. I marked out 5, 7, 10, 15 and 25 (25 just for me, of course ) Her first target was the one I attached. She caught on to the speed-loaders quickly (we've practiced little at the house) and shot about 40 rounds, till she switched to the Model 60. She almost shot it as well, but didn't show as much interest and I think she was already confident with the Ruger.

I urged her to try the XD. . . didn't work though. She's only 5'2 - 130, her hands are small and she couldn't grip it comfortably while depressing the trigger, and the recoil made her uncomfortable, even with the "low recoil" rounds. Almost the same scenario with the Para "Doesn't feel right" were the exact words used in both.

So she shot another 35 rounds through the SP101 and then I heard the words: "I'm not shooting as well as I did the last time." I knew that meant her hands were tiring and we wrapped it up.

(The whole time we were out there in between instruction, I was testing shotgun loads at various distances, out of various barrel lengths! (range report to come).

Overall it was a great day and now when she sees my Ruger on my waistband, she asks "Where you going with my gun?" I figure I'll look out for another J-Frame (Model 60 won't be around ) or 2 and we'll decide what is best for us and our carry situations. She also must enroll in a CCW class, fortunately taught by really good, experienced folks and put LOTS more range time in.

She's looking forward to her next range session, which will be a refresher with the Ruger, Model 60 (or hopefully something new!) and intro to rifles. I'm really glad we were able to enjoy this together. We've not had the best of times lately and this really was a major breath of fresh air.

Excellent Diggs! It sounds like the only gun shopping necessary will be to buy her her own SP101.

__________________“If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen.” ― Samuel Adams

That's what I'm afraid of my brother. I don't like having dupes, especially when the gun fund isn't at is highest right now. If I do have to get another I'll get a different configuration. Maybe I'll do a little survey and have ya'll help me choose how to solve this predicament.

What's the barrel length on the one you have? If it's the 2.25" maybe get the three inch model or vice versa.

__________________“If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen.” ― Samuel Adams

That is really great Diggs! She did pretty well for one of her first times out, especially not being real familiar with everything that was going on ( all the crash training, the outside surroundings, the weapons ). I would say you definitely have yourself a keeper there, but I would keep an eye on that Ruger of yours or it just might be appropriated.

Congrats to Mrs. Bakes and her full blown entry into the firearms' curse.

My first time at the range with a friend I shot semi-auto rifles and absolutely loved it. Particularly the Uzi. It was outrageous fun. It's a great suggestion to take her to the range with a semi-auto rifle. I was going to say "take her out with a semi-auto rifle" but then decided that didn't sound right.